Science Applications International Corporation

Science Applications International Corporation   (Intelligence contractor, Military-industrial complex)
Headquarters	Tysons Corner,  Virginia,  USA
Staff	13,000
Interest of	Leidos Holdings
Member of	Atlantic Council/Corporate Members, Highlands Forum
Founder of	Highlands Forum
Membership	•  John Hamre •  William B. Black
A company which specializes in complex engineering and technology programs for U.S. military and intelligence agencies

SAIC, Science Applications International Corporation, is a military-industrial complex company which specializes in complex engineering and technology programs for U.S. military and intelligence agencies. SAIC was founded in 1969 and grew rapidly over the next decades.

Dependence on US military

90% of SAIC's business comes from the U.S. government, and the company 'has more than 9,000 active government contracts and counts the Army, Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Administration among its biggest customers. About 23,000 of SAIC's 43,000 employees have security clearances to work on classified government programs.'

^[1]

On May 4, 2015, SAIC acquired Scitor Holdings, Inc. for $790 million to expand their presence in the intelligence industry through classified contracts, cleared personnel, and a robust security infrastructure. Scitor was previously owned by Leonard Green & Partners, L.P., a private equity firm.

On September 10, 2018, SAIC announced its acquisition of Engility, a competitor in the U.S. government services contracting sector, for a combined US$2.5 billion with the merger set to take place in January 2019.

On February 6, 2020, SAIC announced its acquisition of UNISYS US Federal, a competitor in the U.S. government services contracting sector, for a combined US$1.2 billion.

Propaganda and information contracts

According to David Miller:

The collapse of distinctions between independent news media, public affairs (PR) work and psychological operations is striking. The ‘reconstruction’ of Iraqi media began on the 10th April with the first broadcast of Towards Freedom a joint US/UK television project broadcast on the same frequency as the former Iraqi state television service. The service included programming supplied by ABC, CBS, Fox and PBS networks in the US. The UK element was produced by the private company already contracted by the Foreign Office to provide satellite propaganda arund the world. CBS president Andrew Heyward reportedly became convinced that ‘this is a good thing to do… a patriotic thing to do’ after conversations with ‘some of the most traditional minded colleagues’ at CBS.

^[2] Only CNN refused to join in. A spokesperson noted ‘we didn’t think that as an independent, global news organisation it was appropriate to participate in a United States government video transmission’. ^[3] And of course that is what it was, transmitted into Iraq by means of Commando Solo the psyops aircraft used to broadcast propaganda by the US psyops operation.

But Towards Freedom was a stop gap to be replaced by a new television service for Iraq. In keeping with the philosophy of information dominance this was paid for by the Pentagon and supplied, not by an independent news organisation but, by a defence contractor, Scientific Applications International Corporation (SAIC). Its expertise in the area - according to its website - is in ‘information operations’ and ‘information dominance’.

^[4] The SAIC effort quickly ran into trouble however. Its Iraq Media Network, which cost $20million over three months, was not obsequious enough for the Coalition Provisional Authority. Within weeks ‘occupying authority chief L. Paul Bremer III placed controls on IMN content and clamped down on the independent media in Iraq, closing down some Iraqi-run newspapers and radio and television stations.’ ^[5] According to Index on Censorship ‘Managers were told to drop the readings from the Koran, the “vox-pop” man-in-the-street interviews (usually critical of the US invasion) and even to run their content past the wife of a US-friendly Iraqi Kurdish leader for a pre-broadcast check. The station rejected the demands and dug in their heels.’ ^[6] But this did not stop Bremer and further incidents have shown the preoccupation with control, culminating in a nine point list of ‘prohibited activity issued by Bremer in June 2003.

It decreed that publishing material that ‘is patently false and is calculated to provoke opposition to the CPA or undermine legitimate processes towards self government’ would henceforth be prohibited. This is not too dissimilar to the Nazi press law introduced in German in 1933. It stated that journalists must ‘regulate their work in accordance with National socialism as a philosophy of life and as a conception of government’.

^[7]

As Index on Censorship notes: ‘Bremer will "reserve the power to advise" the IMN on any aspect of its performance, "including any matter of content" and the power to hire and fire IMN staff. Thus the man in absolute authority over the country's largest, richest and best equipped media network is also his own regulator and regulator of his rivals, with recourse to the US Army to enforce his rulings.’

^[8]

 

Known members

All 2 of the members already have pages here:

Member	Description
William B. Black	Former Deputy Director of the National Security Agency. Revolving door to Science Applications International Corporation, which was given bloated government contracts.
John Hamre	US MICC insider

 

Related Document

Title	Type	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
Document:The Kiss of Death	article	2005	Leuren Moret	Insight into where privatisation of the US Nuclear weapons program and military/weapons/surveillance developments are leading the world. It also provides shocking information about the extent of the apparently quite deliberate and calculated radiation contamination resulting from ever-expanding use of depleted uranium munitions.

Many thanks to our Patrons who cover ~2/3 of our hosting bill. Please join them if you can.

References

1. ^ Bigelow, B. V. SAIC is moving some of its brass east10 December 2006, SignsonSanDiego.com
2. ^ . American "free press" in action. US networks agree to serve as Pentagon propaganda tool in Iraq. By Henry Michaels World socialist Web Site, 15 April 2003 http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/apr2003/med-a15.shtml
3. ^ . ibid.
4. ^ . http://www.saic.com/natsec/dominance.html
5. ^ . ‘Exporting Censorship to Iraq: The press system we allow the Iraqis is far from free.’By Alex Gourevitch Issue Date: 1 October 2003 http://www.prospect.org/print/V14/9/gourevitch-a.html
6. ^ . Rohan Jayasekera Gives with one hand, takes away with the other, Index on Censorship 11 June 2003 http://www.indexonline.org/news/20030611_iraq.shtml
7. ^ . Oron J. Hale (1964) The Captive Press in the Third Reich, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, p. 86.
8. ^  David Miller 'Information Dominance: The Philosophy Of Total Propaganda Control?', Spinwatch, 29 December 2003.
9. ^  SAIC 'SAIC Names Pat Simon Information Operations Program Executive for Operational Intelligence Solutions Business Unit' News Releases, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Oct 30, 2006

• Donald Barlett and James Steele, Washington's $8 Billion Shadow, Vanity Fair, March 2007

 

Known members

All 2 of the members already have pages here:

Member	Description
William B. Black	Former Deputy Director of the National Security Agency. Revolving door to Science Applications International Corporation, which was given bloated government contracts.
John Hamre	US MICC insider

 

Related Document

Title	Type	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
Document:The Kiss of Death	article	2005	Leuren Moret	Insight into where privatisation of the US Nuclear weapons program and military/weapons/surveillance developments are leading the world. It also provides shocking information about the extent of the apparently quite deliberate and calculated radiation contamination resulting from ever-expanding use of depleted uranium munitions.

Many thanks to our Patrons who cover ~2/3 of our hosting bill. Please join them if you can.